It’s pretty crazy to think I haven’t cooked a meal for over two months! Or hold on, that’s not entirely true, I did put some pepper on the moose steak my brother cooked us one night, and I did fry up some potatoes for a late salmon dinner another night. But I think that’s pretty much it. Now I need to learn how to cook again. Slowly, but steady. I am craving fresh veggies. We did eat lots of salads overseas, but not much veggies. If there were any on my dinner plate, they were not the biggest star of the dinner. And most of the time I didn’t have my own plate anyway, in Greece there’s Mezedes and in Spain Tapas. And that is my favourite way of eating, lots of small plates of yumminess! Send me back please!

Moose Steak

Dried fruits and nuts in Barcelona

Sheep heads in Barcelona (and a lot of other very interesting meats). Considered a delicacy even in Norway!

Moose cooking on the summer farm BBQ

Reindeer on my plate! Yum!

The selection of mushrooms in Barcelona was just amazing. Send me back please, I need to do some shopping!

But hey, I was going to talk about cooking, not just look at pictures of food (although I could look at pictures of food all day long, I think it’s called food porn?!). Some people wouldn’t even call what I have for dinner most days for cooking at all. I love steak and salad. Or salmon and salad. Or chicken and salad. It’s so easy and so tasty. No sauce needed, no rice or pasta or potato needed, just plain, old salad and meat. There is of course a little cooking required, throwing the meat in the pan. While it cooks, chop your salad. Add some olive oil and you’re done (obviously you can add more than that, vinegar, herbs, spices etc, but it really doesn’t need to be complicated at all).

If you want to avoid throwing away lots of food that just ended up sitting in your fridge, I highly recommend planning ahead. Make a list over the dinners you are planning on having this week (and what leftovers you are planning on having for lunch) and then write your shopping list and (hey-ho, hey-ho) off to the supermarket you go! Maybe skip one day, just in case you decide to have take out or you get invited to someone’s house for dinner. These things happen. When you make a curry, soup or other one-pot foods, make plenty and freeze some for an emergency. Don’t make it complicated by reading a million recipe books before you start your list and decide on one dinner more fancy than the other. We are talking midweek dinners here. The ones you make when you actually don’t feel like cooking or have time for it. Usually you will be starving when you make them and you might also have starving kids hanging around your ankles screaming while cooking. You don’t want complicated gourmet dishes then, even though that seemed like a good idea Sunday morning when you were planning your week. Keep it simple (just like everything else in life).

But who am I to say you need to cook to be cool? If you want to have take out chinese and pizza every second night, feel free to do so. It’s your life, your health and your responsibility. You will probably be just fine eating that too and the best of all is you don’t need to know how to cook. Win-win, right?

I did make scrambled eggs this morning. That is the closest I have come to cooking since we got back. Maybe tomorrow I will make an omelette? Just to really knock myself out?! Good luck cooking, good-looking 🙂